William H. French

William Henry French (13 January 1815-20 May 1881) was a Major-General of the US Army and the commander of the Army of the Potomac's III Corps during the American Civil War.

Biography
William Henry French was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 13 January 1815, and he graduated from West Point in 1837. French fought in the Second Seminole War, served as Franklin Pierce's aide-de-camp during the Mexican-American War, and served as Stonewall Jackson's commanding officer during the Third Seminole War. At the start of the American Civil War, Captain French and the 1st US Artillery were stationed in Texas, and he decided to move his men to the mouth of the Rio Grande and sail to Key West, Florida rather than surrender to the Confederate States Army. French was given command of Fort Zachary Taylor, and he shut off Key West to slave traders. On 28 September 1861, he was promoted to Brigadier-General of Volunteers and given a brigade in the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac, fighting in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days' Battles. On 29 November 1862, after leading the assault on the Sunken Road at Antietam, French was promoted to Major-General, and he took over III Corps after Daniel E. Sickles was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. French's corps moved too slowly to catch up with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign of autumn 1863, III Corps' last campaign. French was mustered out of service on 6 May 1864, and he would command Fort McDowell in San Francisco, California and Fort McHenry in Maryland before retiring in 1880.